BRISTOL, Tenn., March 18 (UPI) -- Carl Edwards, who won the most recent Sprint Cup race contested, captured the pole Friday for Sunday's running of the Jeff Byrd 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Edwards picked up his second pole of the season by turning a lap around the half-mile track in 128.014 mph. He was also quickest during the only practice session held Friday. Edwards won in Las Vegas prior to the Sprint Cup series taking last week off.
"This is unreal and I hope this keeps going," said Edwards, who won the ninth pole of his Sprint Cup career. He has won twice at Bristol.
Greg Biffle will start on the outside of the first row after producing a lap that was .05 of a second slower than that of Edwards.
Regan Smith, Paul Menard and David Ragan rounded out the top five qualifiers, followed by Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Martin Truex Jr., Mark Martin and Kasey Kahne. Johnson won this race last year.
Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch share the series points lead after three races. Stewart will start 13th and Busch 20th.
After the teams had troubles with their tires during practice and qualifying, Goodyear said it would make a change in compounds and the company brought in close to 1,200 new tires from its Charlotte-area warehouse.
